Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

RALEIGH – The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announced that today in federal court, Senior United States District Judge W. Earl Britt sentenced DEONTE XAVIER BIGELOW, 27, of Elon, North Carolina, to 120 months in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, and sentenced COURTNAE SHANTE WILEY, 28, of Elon, North Carolina, to 5 years of probation.

BIGELOW and WILEY were charged by Indictment with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine (Count One) and possession with intent to distribute five hundred grams or more of cocaine (Count Two).

In 2017, the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office received information that BIGELOW had supplied more than twenty kilograms of cocaine to Brunswick County, North Carolina from 2011 to 2016.

On November 7, 2017, officers used a confidential informant to order one kilogram of cocaine from BIGELOW, who said he would deliver it to Brunswick County.

On November 8, 2017, BIGELOW and his girlfriend, COURTNAE WILEY, drove from Elon, North Carolina to Brunswick County, where officers conducted a traffic stop of their vehicle. Officers asked where they were going, and WILEY said they were going to the beach. Officers noted, however, that there was no luggage in the car. A drug canine alerted to the car, indicating that drugs were present. Officers conducted a search of the car and found a kilogram of cocaine--with a street value of more than $30,000--in WILEY’s purse.

This case was brought by the United States Attorney’s Office through partnerships with the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Scott A. Lemmon.

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